Moses Sumney Puts The Industry Behind Him And Explores The In-Between On 'Grae'

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A resistance to labels is reflected in Moses Sumney's music. Across two discs, ‘grae’ is all about defying expectation, genre and categorization.

."Lyrically and thematically, I was able to channel something bigger than me in a much clearer way," he says.Moses Sumney moved from LA to Asheville, N.C. ahead of writing his latest album,."Lyrically and thematically, I was able to channel something bigger than me in a much clearer way," he says.spent years searching for the sound on his new, double album.

You started getting massive interest really early from record labels in LA. But what's interesting is you turned them down. You seemed to resist that kind of intense attention. Why was that? I read that in your early years the industry wanted to peg you as an R&B artist because you're black. How did you try to describe your music to them back then, to the extent that you could put that into words?

I think it's definitely possible. I think it's rare. There are a few cases in the music industry now that we can point to of people who kind of leaned on mystery. I think you have to have a story if people know enough about who you are and what you're selling is your own identity, but if your"thing," your whole angle, is mystery, you can get away with people not knowing anything.

I mean, it's a really common immigrant story, right? You've got to be a lawyer or a doctor, kind of thing. My parents definitely had that, and that was difficult for me because of my personality. I was just always strange and unique and was going to do my own thing. I'm a middle child, very quiet, was very to myself and was always planning and plotting and scheming.

I know that eventually you decided to leave in LA because you were searching for a certain kind of sound. Now that you're living in Asheville, does it feel like you've found that sound?

 

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Perfect topic to turn off more interest from NPR. Good stuff

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